#tips for getting into a top tech company?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

hollow torrent
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anyone got any tips on what to do to build your resume and experiences so that you can get into a top tech company, especially as a college student? what are things you should do to prepare and increase your chances of getting a good job while you are in college? i know internships and job experience is good? was wondering if there was anything else that might be relevant or important.

candid phoenix
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I mean most top tech companies use leetcode in their interviews, so getting good at that

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But that just falls under the category of just prepare things that are relevant to the job interviews

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I was a C++ and OS guy I got good at that stuff and good at interviewing for those roles

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As an example

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And yeah just realize it’s a marathon not a sprint, keep working at it little by little

hollow torrent
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any tips for like what companies will be looking for like job experience etc?

candid phoenix
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What do you mean

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Any job you apply to will want to see you can do the job listed

sonic loom
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Out of the 3 students I've referred to my company:

  • 2 were grad students, 1 was undergrad student
  • The most popular university was ETHZ (2 students)
  • The median GPA was 3.8/4.0
hollow torrent
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what are qualities that make a strong candidate for hiring?

candid phoenix
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The only broad things that I’d say most employers want is someone who communicates well, decent intuition, knows the tech that is used in the job they are applying for

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But not every role is the same as I said

hollow torrent
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i see

sonic loom
candid phoenix
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Obviously if I applied to a webdev role, they probably wouldn’t care about my experience at a robotics company

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As an example

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Not every role is the same

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And it really can just depend on what you’re looking for

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But I think good communication and intuition are good qualities that apply most roles

sonic loom
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One of the students I referred had no work exp at all, one was working as a contractor at a no-name company, and one was a product manager at Mercedes-Benz

hollow torrent
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wow

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do you know if there are any things that i can try to get on my resume though to try to improve my chances of getting into a company?

candid phoenix
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If you have an award or did something cool or whatever

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I was a TA for my OS class and put two projects on my resume

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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how does study abroad help?

sonic loom
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Diversity points, since you have work/study exp in multiple countries

candid phoenix
hollow torrent
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oh

candid phoenix
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Like I said lol

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Totally falls under that category

sonic loom
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I find that most new grad/intern resumes look more or less the same

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The ones that look different have something unusual like study abroad

hollow torrent
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is that something that will be highly relevant or worth my time? i kinda wanna save on time and money

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especially the money part

sonic loom
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Does your university fund study abroad

candid phoenix
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“Worth my time” depends on what you care about

hollow torrent
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if my main priority is getting a job

candid phoenix
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Uh

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I mean if you can’t afford it then no

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Like @sonic loom is saying

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If it’s funded that’s different

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See how the answer differs depending on your situation?

hollow torrent
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i see

sonic loom
candid phoenix
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And even if it’s not funded, if you can afford it then why not

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But everyone has a different situation

hollow torrent
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have any of you guys done it before?

candid phoenix
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Nah , I’ll pass

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Sounds super uninteresting to me personally

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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lol ok

candid phoenix
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Co worker did it , sounded exactly how I expected

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Living in a random country for a semester eh

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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speaking of letters of recs, how do you guys actually get them? cus like professors can be hard to get to

candid phoenix
sonic loom
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If you do internship in a foreign country that holds the same weight as study abroad

candid phoenix
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Also yes I just asked professors for them but I needed them for grad school

hollow torrent
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for study abroad, does going to another state count? idk if this is a stupid question

candid phoenix
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Only difficult to get if you never decided to form relationships with your teachers

candid phoenix
hollow torrent
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ok

candid phoenix
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Usually means to a different country

hollow torrent
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i see

candid phoenix
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Going from Texas to New Mexico is not study abroad

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As an example

sonic loom
candid phoenix
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I’m still trying to figure out why you need a letter of recommendation

hollow torrent
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im thinking that i could possibly go to grad school?

candid phoenix
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I mean if you want sure

sonic loom
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Grad school is a good idea if you can't get a new grad job

candid phoenix
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I would make the sure the bar for “can’t get a new grad job” is high though

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Not having a job by January is a low bar to suddenly commit to grad school

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As an example

sonic loom
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9/11 of the people I've referred were either in grad school or done with grad school

hollow torrent
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i see

sonic loom
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A master's is only 1 year at some places

candid phoenix
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I graduated spring 2020 and many people went to grad school to avoid getting a job during the pandemic

hollow torrent
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i heard that too

candid phoenix
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But I think all of them graduated this past spring and still can’t find shit

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Sucks for them

hollow torrent
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people going to grad school cus no good jobs

candid phoenix
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I told two of them to just try and get a job instead of delaying but I guess neither of us can see the future

hollow torrent
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why do people get a grad degree though?

candid phoenix
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I want to learn more

sonic loom
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If I were you I'd apply to master's programs AND new grad jobs. Then if I can't find a job, I'll go to grad school and continue my job search while in grad school. If I find a job while in grad school, for the next semester I drop down to part-time course load and accept the job.

candid phoenix
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That’s why I started grad school

candid phoenix
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There are like probably a dozen different reasons

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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wut r yall studying?

candid phoenix
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I have a degree I CS

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Graduated spring 2020

hollow torrent
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nice

candid phoenix
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My masters is also going to be in CS

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Whenever I finish that

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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are you guys doing that to boost your chances of job opportunities or for research and learning?

candid phoenix
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Just like the stuff

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And it does help with my line of work

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Idk if the degree itself will help job opportunities but it’s cheap and kind of at my own pace and I like learning

sonic loom
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For master's my top 3 choices would be Aero/Astro, materials science, or ECE (depending on what programs I can get into)

candid phoenix
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Really not a big deal

hollow torrent
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a masters for learning sounds nice but i dont wanna waste money unless like theres like a scholarship or if its funded

candid phoenix
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I mean like i said everyone’s situation os different

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School has rarely ever costed me a dime

hollow torrent
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how?

candid phoenix
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But everyone is different

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I have two parents

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And my masters is cheap and paid for by my job

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And I went to community college

sonic loom
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I get scholarships so it was funded for a long time

hollow torrent
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what stats got you scholarships?

sonic loom
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My school gave a full scholarship to everyone

hollow torrent
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oh lol

sonic loom
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But acceptance rate at the time was ~7%

hollow torrent
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what school is that if you dont mind telling?

sonic loom
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I'll DM

hollow torrent
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ok

sonic loom
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Btw 2 of the students I referred ended up at good companies (Meta and Oracle) even though they got rejected by my company

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I wrote positive recs for them though

hollow torrent
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wait so are you currently an employee somewhere?

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ah

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for grad school, can you apply with your colleague recs?

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and like how many undergrad prof recs do they require?

sonic loom
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Yeah, I go to school and work. But I'm gonna take a gap semester probably because the economy isn't good and I need to prioritize work.

hollow torrent
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i see

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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did you get all three of yours from professors?

sonic loom
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I didn't apply to grad school yet but when I was applying to transfer I got 1 high school teacher and 1 professor

zealous quarry
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When it comes to a new grad position, a lot of it is luck.
After that, you just apply. And build software engineering skills.

sonic loom
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If I were to apply to grad school I'd get my previous manager (who was a professor before he became my manager) and 2 professors. I would be hesitant to get a letter of rec from a junior person or from someone who has not written that many letters of recs before.

hollow torrent
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makes sense

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one problem im worried about is that i will lack the connections to actually be able to get the recs. ik for high school, i was barely able to get one of my teachers to write a rec cus im not the type to actually engage and socialize with teachers

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also in college, it might be even harder cus more students and less professors

sonic loom
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If you're in a professor's class you gotta participate in class and make sure they at least know your name

hollow torrent
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im hoping that i can in someway somehow find ways to interact with my professors

sonic loom
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And go to office hours

hollow torrent
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thats probably a good step

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i also heard that theres research opportunities with professors? could help with getting your professor to know you?

sonic loom
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Yeah, research is better than doing a class actually

hollow torrent
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do you have to actually know the professor or be in their class to do research?

sonic loom
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No, you don't

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For at least 1 letter of rec writer you should have worked with that person for at least a year

hollow torrent
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yeah, i dont think that you can really get to know a person for a year just by taking their classes for 1 semester

sonic loom
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Does the prof teach multiple classes that you need to take?

hollow torrent
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is getting a research position more like applying for a job?

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i dont really have a professor in mind yet or any professor

sonic loom
sonic loom
hollow torrent
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oh

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do you plan on doing research?

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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do you know that professor well?

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or is it like you just go up and ask and see if they are willing?

sonic loom
sonic loom
hollow torrent
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yeah i know, but i think if i can get good interactions with my professor, that would be nice so that i could get better recs

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and im really not the type of guy that can stand out when theres a huge group of people with me

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im more comfortable with one on one interactions

sonic loom
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Most profs won't say no to writing a letter of rec unless you're a below-average student but grad schools can detect if the prof doesn't really want to write a rec

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Like if they write you a weak rec

hollow torrent
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ok

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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that is sorta reassuring

sonic loom
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At my school the office hours are overcrowded, there are like 7 students with the prof

hollow torrent
hollow torrent
sonic loom
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I think like 6 of us are the same people who go to office hours every single week, and the last person is a rando who isn't a regular

hollow torrent
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is the professor like welcoming towards it?

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like are they ok with it or do they get annoyed?

sonic loom
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Office hours is part of a professor's job and they are being paid for it, so they're not really allowed to say no

hollow torrent
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i mean ive had high school teachers who get annoyed when you ask too many questions or come in too often in office hours

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but i guess it doesnt hurt to try

sonic loom
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My professors are generally welcoming when you come to office hours

hollow torrent
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do you usually schedule an appointment or something through email? or like ask after class?

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or is it something where you kinda just walk in

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also like what do you do in office hours most of the time?

sonic loom
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I just find it annoying because too many people show up. Some professors will allow all the students to enter their office at the same time and teach to all of us at the same time but it's hard. If it's like 5 students we can probably all fit. But if it's 6+ some of us will have to line up in the hall. Another professor has a ton of students at office hours too but he only sees 1-2 students at a time, so we have to line up in the hall to wait our turn.

hollow torrent
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oh so u guys are like asking questions im guessing?

sonic loom
sonic loom
hollow torrent
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i mean i feel like i dont really struggle that much in class so i dont really know what to ask

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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ah

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cool, thanks for spending the time to tell me this stuff

sonic loom
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I already have a full-time job so I don't ask my profs about career stuff. But if I didn't have a job I'd probably ask my profs about internships/jobs.

hollow torrent
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ohh

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that is a good idea

candid phoenix
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All 3 were cool , made good relationships with them in undergrad

hollow torrent
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how did you make good relationships with them?

candid phoenix
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Same as was already said

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Went to office hours , was genuinely interested in the material and talked to them often

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Eventually became the TA for one of them

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One of them we still talk and recently went out for breakfast when I was back in town

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Just like any other friendship

hollow torrent
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how did you become a ta? did you ask them directly?

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did they do some sort of interview or something?

candid phoenix
hollow torrent
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that sounds really nice though that you can become really chill with your profs

candid phoenix
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Asked “how can I be a TA for the intro CS class”

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They said I had to have had a good grade in the class and fill out a form

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Got paid for it and it was a great gig

hollow torrent
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does it cover your tuition? or is it more like extra savings?

candid phoenix
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I mean

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Like I said

sonic loom
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Lol one of my profs tried to hire me as a tutor. Since the school employs student-tutors and she oversees the tutoring program for her dept.

candid phoenix
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I have parents

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My school was paid for

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Any money I made was extra money

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I usually invested it

hollow torrent
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oh

candid phoenix
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Or saved it for when I moved out after graduating

hollow torrent
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cus thats not really the case for me cus i have to get student loans and stuff

candid phoenix
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Okay well everyones situation is different

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Like I’ve said like 10 times lol

hollow torrent
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yeah, thats why im intersted in ways to like save money

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for college

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i guess its something ill figure out in the future hopefully

candid phoenix
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I mean I had two jobs during my last year or so

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Both paid 15 an hour

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Both were at school

sonic loom
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If you talk to profs they can probably help you get some kind of paid gig, like TA, internship, research assistant

candid phoenix
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So like I had no commute

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And yea that was clutch

hollow torrent
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i see

sonic loom
hollow torrent
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i think it depends on where you live

candid phoenix
hollow torrent
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i dont think its that high even in new york? im not the most up to date person though

candid phoenix
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I grew up in Las Vegas

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Our minimum wage was 8.25?

sonic loom
candid phoenix
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No clue now

candid phoenix
sonic loom
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Inflation causes minimum wage to go up

candid phoenix
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I meant to say I’m not sure how much it has gone up if at all back home

sonic loom
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I figured out one way to get good letters of recs is to make an impact on other students